


If I fall, catch me.

by rl4sb4eva



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Angst, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-05
Updated: 2013-03-05
Packaged: 2017-12-04 10:19:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/709649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rl4sb4eva/pseuds/rl4sb4eva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He did it again, he got himself out of a tight spot and nearly, will very probably anyway, killed himself in the process.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If I fall, catch me.

He did it again, he got himself out of a tight spot and nearly, will very probably anyway, killed himself in the process. 

His leg’s too painful to stand on and he tried splinting it with pieces of the suit but he can't move more than a few miles a day and he's already covered in burns. It's burning during the day, freezing during the night, and he's pretty sure he's got an infection, so he settles behind an outcropping and lays his head on a balled up, blood-stained trouser leg and tries to sleep  
but he thinks instead. 

Hand shaking slightly as he rubs them together against his chest for warmth. Dry tongue snaking out to 'wet' dry lips in an action that's become nearly as automatic as breathing despite doing nothing. 

He thinks of Pepper, fiery red and when he closes his eyes he sees her face, kind eyes and smart twist of lips that can build him up and knock him down in one syllable apiece. 

He thinks of long legs that go on for miles, and clicked heels on expensive flooring as she does her damndest to keep him alive for another day. 

He huffs out a laugh, dry throat scratchy and it barely makes a sound, but it's there. He feels his nose start to itch, the indication of tears, moisture he can ill afford to lose, so he tamps his emotions down, switches to thinking about the burn of a 40 year old scotch as it sears his throat and fills his head with peat and smoke. 

The taste seems to wake his stomach, empty and shriveled and he can hear the pitiful rumble it gives as his tongue creates the taste. 

He changes course again, switches to Rhodey. Good old Rhodey, who up to six months ago was about the only person he would call a friend, he wasn't staff, wasn't paid to be near Tony but he still came, still listened when Tony called him further gone than pissed of a night and tried to explain quantum mechanics, while at the same time explaining why he should tell Pepper how he felt and why he shouldn't, and then throwing in a recipe for pizza for good measure. Rhodey made all the right noises and never told him to fuck off. Well once, but that didn't count. 

He thinks of the suit, a part of him now almost as much as his internal organs, and he thinks of flying, of falling and being caught, of having people to call colleagues. Friends even. He tries to come up with a sarcastic response about the inevitability and futility of friendships, but there's no one to hear it and he wouldn't say it anyway. So he thinks about blueberries. 

About Bruce, who can keep up with him and call him on his crap. 

About Bruce smiling with Pepper as he flicks Chinese food at Thor. 

He feels sleep tugging at him, and he smiles softly against ruined cotton as he realises this might be it. He might sleep and never wake up, and the thought terrifies him. He doesn't want to sleep alone anymore. 

He wants... Well what does it matter. It's better for everyone concerned and it's not like he's a great loss, bravado and bluster aside, he'll still be remembered as a hero. 

He relaxes as much as he can into the sand, shifting a rock out of his hip and wincing as a dull thudding in the air nearby makes his head start to pound. The smile stays on his cracked, dry lips as he dreams of falling... and being caught.


End file.
